Thor

Kenneth Branagh’s Thor is a lot of fun.  It has a few minor flaws, and plenty of the requisite comic book hero silliness which may or may not bother you (we are talking the God of Thunder whose weapon is a big hammer), but the sooner you suspend disbelief, the sooner you can go along with the pleasant and entertaining ride.

The movie attempts to give a plausible explanation for the existence of Asgard, including the apparent scientific veracity of Old Norse mythology, where there are nine worlds on the world tree Yggdrasil, including Asgard, Jotunheim (where some of the bad guys in the movie reside), and Midgard (Earth), all connected by the Bifrost Bridge (which in the film includes a literal rainbow bridge from the castle to a device that is basically a teleporter).  More suspension of disbelief is required here, but without all this, where the heck would Thor come from, anyway?

In this incarnation of the Marvel story, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is about to step down and hand over the throne to his heir, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), to the obvious chagrin of Thor’s brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston).  But a group of Jotunheims (aka the Ice Giants) break into the vault and very nearly steal back the power source that Odin took from them to prevent them from destroying humanity centuries earlier.  Thor’s response threatens to end a long-held truce, and Odin is induced to both postpone his retirement and exile Thor to Earth, where Thor runs into a group of scientists (Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kat Dennings) who have been studying atmospheric disturbances in the area in which he suddenly appears.  Various hi-jinx ensue on both Earth and Asgard.

Hemsworth was an excellent choice as the boastful and arrogant title character, and Hiddleston is equally great as his jealous brother, Loki.  Aside from them and Hopkins, who is perfect as Odin, most of the other actors weren’t given quite as many scenes to chew up.  I think Natalie Portman did a fine job, although being the current superstar that she is after a fresh Oscar win for Black Swan, I found her a tad distracting as the love interest/plucky scientist in the film.  Perhaps on second viewing I won’t think, “It’s Natalie Portman,” every time she appears on screen.  

But overall the entire cast is exceptional.  Idris Elba is Heimdall, dutiful guardian of the bridge.  Tadanobu Asano (from Ichi the Killer and Mongol), Josh Dallas, Jaime Alexander, and an almost unrecognizable Ray Stevenson (The Punisher and “Rome”) are fun as Thor’s trusty band of companion warriors.  Skarsgard is both believable and likable as the head scientist and mentor to Portman’s character, and Dennings provides some good comic relief as their assistant.  Colm Feore, as king of the Jotunheims, is both formidable and pitiable.  Jeremy Renner makes a brief appearance as Hawkeye (a nod to a movie to come), and Clark Gregg appears once again as Agent Coulson of SHIELD.  I think it would be fun if he were in every comic book movie from now on.  Even the DC ones.

The movie is very well directed and well scripted, has very nice art direction and special effects, and contains healthy doses of both action and humor which keep us consistently entertained.  What I liked most about Thor was the thoughtfulness and intelligence behind the story.  The bad guys aren’t evil raving lunatics, but characters with real motivation, however misguided.  The believable human/Asgardian story, dialogue, and character development are the reasons we can decide that yeah, we believe Thor traveled to Earth on a rainbow bridge and we don’t care how silly that sounds.

Aside from warriors with costumes that look unmarred by battle, some of the film’s flaws include unnecessary character introductions (like the immediate naming of all of Thor’s friends when they are first on screen together), an over-explanatory opening narration, and the fact that all the residents of Asgard inexplicably speak modern English.  Granted, we need it to be in English (well, we English speakers, anyway), and there is a convention for setting movies in other countries and having us assume/pretend that they are speaking their own language.  But I always find it distracting when people are jumping from place to place, all speaking the same language and understanding each other without addressing how this is possible.  Asgard to Jotunheim I can see.  But Asgard to Earth?  I think The 13th Warrior, as improbable as the quick language learning scene was in some ways, handled this better than any film I’ve seen that didn’t utilize subtitles.  And then there is always the babel fish from Hitchhiker’s Guide.

Still, my peeves about excess exposition and language peccadilloes aside, Thor is an eminently watchable and enjoyable film.  I predict multiple viewings in my future.

[Rating:8/10]